Sunday, April 04, 2010

In about 24 hours from now, our first Game Thread of the 2010 season will go up, ready for comments about the Dodgers' opening day at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. We've been doing Game Threads into our fourth year now, and I thought I'd take a moment to explain our rationale and general rules of engagement, both of which have evolved.

We started our Game Threads back in 2007 with the primary purpose of finding a repository for the seven Sons' insipid, sarcastic comments made during Dodger games. In years prior, from the first pitch onward we would be shooting group emails all over the place riffing about the game, but also spiralling into random tangents about music, culture, entertainment, and humor.

Not all of us live(d) in the same city, or even time zone--so it was nice to have a place where we could come in, hang up our coats, and "watch" the game together irrespective of where we were or how long we wanted to stick around. No commitments, just a bunch of Sons throwing quip after quip around with reckless abandon. We started affectionately referring to SoSG GTs as "our local bar," where we would open up shop, pour a few drinks, and watch the trainwreck which was the 2007 season ensue.

But by the 2008 season, something strange had happened. Much to our surprise, other people started stopping by our neighborhood bar, too. We realized that we had to make sure we were opening the bar two hours before each gametime, as other people were counting on us as well. And we met a heck of a lot of great friends in 2008, both in the Game Threads and in person.

In 2009, the party blew up even more. Fueled by both a great community of witty, timely, and extremely funny commenters, we ended up piercing new heights in comment counts with complete regularity. It was common to have our faithful readers put up the starting lineups in the comments, even before we had goten to it. And when we even surpassed 1000 comments during a key game, the comment thread was hoppin'; there were more than a few of us knocking back a couple, enjoying the game...until the end that is. It was an awful, gut-wrenching playoff loss that evening, and more liquor was required to anesthetize the sorrow. But having the likes of SoSG regulars Dusty Baker, Mr. Customer, Mr. LA Sports Fan, Josh S., Neeebs, rbnlaw, Quadsevens, fanerman, Fred's Brim, Hong Like A Chih Kuo, Erin, karina, Paul, Nic j, Booger, Dusto_Magnifico, and others (**email me if I've inadvertently missed you; I'm drunk right now and it's awful tough to scan these comments with this sort of buzz going on**) helped diffuse the pain a bit.

(Well, maybe not all that much; I spent most of this off-season in a funk that the "off-season splash" signing of Russ Ortiz did little to remedy. But enough about me.)

We know we've got a precious community here, of a great group of people who take the time to contribute their comments and insight and perspectives. And we want you to know that we sincerely appreciate your patronage--which is part of the reason why we're always giving random things away for insane contests and their ilk. We take "tending" this bar quite seriously, and love the group of friends we've developed. [And we'll be publishing more news soon about taking this community to the next level--stay tuned!]

For those who are new to SoSG, welcome to the bar, come on in, pull up a chair and open up a tab. You'll find Game Threads going up around two hours before each first pitch of each game, unless superstitions this season cause us to change tack. You'll find a solid community of regulars who are both interested and knowledgeable about the Dodgers, as well as well-versed in any number of other fields (just watch!). And you'll find plenty of ice-cold brews flowing from the SoSG tap.

The great thing about this bar is, there's plenty of room for new barstools, and we're open for every game. Jump on in, make a comment. Join the mayhem.

If you're passionate about the Dodgers and ready to comment with your passion, come on in and enjoy! We'll see you here in 24 hours (Dusty, please don't camp out again on the sidewalk in front; your seat is safe, no need to worry).

"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone." B. Giamatti

To add a bit of a serious note to this post, and I think I've briefly remarked on it before, but it always strikes me (and those around me) how funny/sad/insane it is that there are many times I'll be at an actual game (remember those!) and think, "Man, I'd rather be at home on the sofa posting some snarky comment of the GT than sitting here along the third baseline; I've got a good thing to post about that last play." When you get to that point, you know it's bad...or, good.

Can't wait for Opening Day (today's game doesn't count in my book) and for the GT that will surely cause me to lose at least three hours of work.

Waaaaay ahead of ya. I specifically bought an iPhone in the offseason because SoSG site looks relatively normal on the browser, as opposed to how it looks on a BlackBerry. Sole reason for getting the new smart phone. Sons, hope Apple gives you its kickback.

Wary of ATT reception (or lack thereof) at the games, but we'll see.

Blogger: offer a mobile-optimized version of your sites, as Sons comes up magnified about 50 times every page hit, and one has to pinch down to get a normal-sized page to read. This was especially annoying during March Madness contest when I was driving and refreshing every 30 seconds.

I like the headline for this thread as it is reminded me of a fine, fine episode from "Band of Brothers," called "Why We Fight." I read this thread's post with the seriousness that I would watch a gritty, World War II ten-part retrospective.

a cozy bar full of articulate, witty people is exactly the vibe i got when i finally stumbled onto this blog last season. again, glad i found it. as a dodger fan for all of my 32 years, i'd have to say this blog is now probably in my top 10 reasons (out of about 10 million) why it's better to be a dodger fan.

post-processing be damned, it still takes a nice image. As any honest photographer will tell, there's nothing you can do digitally that makes in any more dishonest than the things you can do in the darkroom.

I love how not once when criticizing Red Sox for the steal of home did Morgan suggest that it just may be early in the season and not everyone is in sync yet. But as soon as Yankees had their own poor fielding choice, that was his almost immediate explanation, that it was early in the season.

In that Dick's commercial, could they have picked two older, slower guys to run around seemingly fast and jump around all over the place than Hunter and Junior? Nothing says speedy cleats like those dudes.